Falling
by ToxicMKT
Summary: 34,000 ft in the air, stalked by a ghost with no intentions of stopping and with rapidly deplenishing ghost powers, Danny Phantom narrates what may well be his final battle. May be continued
1. Chapter 1

Falling

I was falling.

Not the tripping-over-because-I'm-a-klutz kind of falling.

I mean 34000 feet in the air falling.

You're now probably wondering why the hell I was up so high in the sky in the first place.

It wasn't a matter of figuring out how high I could go without running out of oxygen. It was more a matter of getting as far away from certain individuals as physically possible.

Namely the ghost that was chasing me.

Normally, I don't let these less hazardous ghosts get to me. They're just bundles of ectoplasmic goop, one good blast and they're straight into the Fenton thermos. But my anger levels had been threatening to bubble over that afternoon, which was probably because my parents caught me in that stupid net of theirs that sticks to me like super glue.

I ploughed my way through the thick of the clouds, struggling not to lose myself in the layers upon layers of clogging mist.

It'd left the comforting stream of green earth far behind as I climbed my way up through the atmosphere. The sky was soft and the warmth from the near sun was welcoming on my cool skin.

I spun around haphazardly, surveying my surroundings with skittery eyes. There was no sign of the ghost that had been previously stalking me with electric shocks.

Elektra…as she was suitably named, controlled electricity. Similar to Technus, but with a much bigger ego. She was probably his cousin or something, all these ghosts seemed to be related in one way or another.

So there I was, panting like a dehydrated lunatic when the crystal clear azure sky vanished, to be replaced by a fog of ugly, choking black clouds. Electricity crackled around me, and I could feel the hairs shoot up on the back of my neck.

Bracing myself for what was about to come, I felt bursts of raging energy flood into the palms of my cool, gloved hands. I hovered above the thick of the clouds, my chest tight with the reduced amount of oxygen and my breathing ragged.

Right on cue, Elektra burst out of the clouds before me, which I found not in the least surprising. I had actually expected her to jump out behind me and scream "Boo!" She was a pretty basic ghost really, when dealt with correctly. Somewhere between the Box Ghost and Technus…who still had habit of blurting out his plans of destruction to his opponent.

So yeah, not the brightest bulb in the box.

Elektra loomed over me in her failed attempt to terrify me at three times my height.

And ten times my width.

Her hair was a shocking shade of red, fanned out around her twisted face by sparks of darting currents like a distorted halo. Her clothes were made entirely or fluorescent material that clashed dangerously against one another and the sickly green of her skin.

"Knew I'd find you Danny Phantom! Not so smart now, are you? And now, I, Elektra, the brightest ghost in the ghost zone-"

I stopped listening by that point, already exasperated from the idea that she was so proud of herself for finding me when I had been the one hanging around for the last half hour waiting for her to turn up. My patience running low, I released one of the burning spheres of emerald energy from my palm and watched as it blasted squarely into Elektra's stomach. The blast thrusted her backwards with such force she did some failed kind of somersault that only made her look more comical.

While she was out of the equation for the moment, I grabbed at my waist. All I needed was the Fenton Thermos, then I could catch this waste of space and head home for some peace and maybe the ability to be back before my ten pm curfew. Unfortunately, my life is never that easy, and it was only then I realised the thermos was not clipped to the belt on my hips, but on the table in my parents' basement, with a ghost still locked inside.

It was Technus, ironically.

"Aw crap.."

Cursing under my breath, I tried to come up with a rapid backup plan. Normally, Sam and Tucker would be here to help me find a solution (though they wouldn't have let me be as stupid to forget the thermos anyway…) but seeing as obviously neither of them could fly..

As I scanned my thoughts to try and think of a way to get rid of Elektra, a massive volt of static ran through my chest, knocking the wind out of my and setting my hair on it's end.

The ghost's laughter pealed in my ears, rising my temper as I struggled to get back to my feet while she simply grew maybe a couple more metres. I couldn't believe I'd let my guard down. My anger threatened to spill over, and I felt a searing pain shoot down both of my arms. Without thinking, almost fuelled by instinct, I fired a pulsating orb of ectoplasm at Elektra.

She dodged it, chucking, causing my fury to simply increase. Balls of startling energy began to ricochet out of my hands, hitting the taunting ghost at all directions.

There was a long silence, broken only by my heavy breathing as I doubled over in my exhaustion. I had to be coming down with something, using that much energy didn't normally wear me out as fast as this. Unless the static shock had interfered with my powers…which was more than likely when it came to my bad luck.

However, Elektra slowly, her steadiness almost painful, climbed back up to her full height which seemed to be ever increasing. She towered over me, her mottled green face flushing in pure rage.

"You are going to regret that, Phantom! Just you wait and see what I, Elektra-"

I rolled my eyes again, and was contemplating just heading back to earth, when I saw the ghost raising her hands to the many rolling black clouds, sparks fizzling from her skin. I began to retort with one of my many bad quips which I had a store of for occasions just like these, when a deep groan of thunder rumbled above our heads, the sheer volume almost deafening.

A flash of blinding light occurred to my left, barely seconds after then thunder had rumbled. I felt frozen to the spot, watching Elektra in a disturbing mix of terror and awe as her power drew stronger, like she was feeding from the clouds above. Lightning flagged down even closer than before, possibly a couple of inches from my face at the very least.

I jumped awkwardly, as well as you could jump when you were already hovering in the air, mentally kicking myself in a start to get myself back together. I soared along the runway of clouds, giving serious competition to any aeroplanes passing by.

I forced myself to not look around, to keep moving forward through the sky with the angry lightning at my heels.

The clumped mass of deathly dark storm clouds were catching up with me, stalking the shimmering blue heavens and poisoning them with their hatred.

A bold streak of eye-watering light blasted behind me, so close it scorched the edges of my brilliant white boots. Cursing loudly, I tried to speed up and instantly regretted using up all that deplenishing energy earlier.

Elektra was closing in, and I could feel myself slowing down, no matter how loudly my brain screamed at me to move faster, my body just couldn't seem to find the energy.

And there was no escape. I was either trapped up here, or harming the people I loved back on solid ground. I faintly heard Elektra screech words in her mocking manner, but I was only focused on what was above me. Halting dead ion my tracks, glued to the spot, I was forced to shield my eyes from the impossibly bright light surrounding me.

People often contemplate how they are going to die.

But I never thought it would happen to me like this.

The electric ray struck my forehead first, the world seeming to freeze as I felt the stabbing pain burn through my skin. My skull felt like it was exploding in slow motion, my brain being torn apart piece by piece like wet paper. The agony rippled down my spine, washing through every nerve in my body like a tsunami as it slowly killed me from the inside out.

And then I heard the sound. A horrific, terrifying noise, that sounded like an animal being tortured in the most cruelly pain inflicted way. I strained my ears to work out where the sound was coming from, and it took me a minute to realise.

It was me. My screaming.

The ungrateful world began to spin once more, and I found my body convulding uncontrollably with screaming waves of electricity, writhing in pure agony.

And then I was falling.

The icy wind ripped through my billowing hair, whistling cruelly in my ears. My body spiralling towards the earth headfirst, I searched desperately for that tiny source of warmth buried deep inside myself. I forced myself to focus on it through the torture, clamping my eyes tight shut and waited for the soothing glow to engulf my spasming, dying body.

I felt the waves of light stroke my waist and hips…before they faded away into nothingness. I cried out in anguish, trying again, and again, and again, until it eventually dawned on me. I couldn't even revert back to my human form. There was so little energy left inside me that I couldn't even relapse into what my ghost side normally used as a last resort.

Choking back a sob, I thought of my family and friends as their faces flickered into my mind.

The last thing I had said to Jazz had been an angry retort, a lie fuelled sentence that had only been devised to hurt her back like she had hurt me.

Would they ever know how I died?

Would they ever know if I died?

Sure, someone may stumble across the dead body of Danny Phantom, declare it on the news that the ghost hero of Amity Park was gone for good this time.

If there was ever a body to find, that is.

But what about Danny Fenton? What would happen to him?

What would happen to me?

Would I just be labelled as a missing person, along with the millions of other lost teenagers?

My family would never know.

I'd never see any of them again.

Not Dad, or Mum,or Jazz or Tucker….or Sam.

I hadn't even told her how I really felt about…well...it didn't matter now anyway. From the look of it, I was only a few minutes away from impact.

Leaning back into the fall, I braced myself and felt my mouth open unconsciously as I screamed while my body shuddered with the electric pain.

I wasn't ready to die yet.

_And then all of Amity Park,  
>came to watch and awe…<br>As the powerless ghost boy,  
>Fell to the floor.<em>


	2. Chapter 2

Sam leant forward on the window sill, head resting on her clasped hands as she awed at the thunderstorm gathering in the sky above. She waited with anticipation for the lightening to strike, smiling unconsciously at the first rumble of thunder rolling near. Storms had to be her all time favourite part of the weather. She couldn't help but love watching the grey clouds poison the clear sky, listening out for the roar of noise as she counted down the seconds to the gorgeous flash of blinding light that lit up the sky like a floodlight.

Yes, she loved thunder storms. But for some reason, this one seemed rather…off. Sam couldn't really put her finger on it. The storm had seemed to start up so quickly; one minute the sky was an awkwardly irritating crystal clear shade of blue, and the next it had gone a black as her hair.

But she wasn't complaining.

She hadn't seen Danny in a while either, to be honest. She normally liked to drag him out from the safe depths of his bedroom to watch the storm form in the sky, but when she had called round earlier… he simply hadn't been at home.

Which, by all means was allowed. She wasn't his mother, he was free to go where he chose. But she could pretty much guess he had gone off to fight another ghost…but playing hero like he usually did, he didn't ask her or Tucker to come along and help.

Which for some reason, hurt. More than it should.

And she didn't really know why.

Sighing a little, Sam craned up to open her window a crack, in a strained effort to amplify the thunder roar. As predicted, the thunder came….but no lightning strike. Confused, Sam tugged her window open a little more, only to jump back in shock when a bold streak of sheer light shot down from the sky faster than the time it took her to blink. And it was way too close to be natural.

Trying to come to a conclusion, Sam grappled for her phone to call Tucker when something strange caught her eye. Pressing closer to the window, face illuminated in the light from the bolt of energy, she squinted at the tiny black line that appeared to be tumbling from the sky like a marionette with its strings cut.

"Now what…are you?"

Tucker typed haphazardly on his computer, eyes straining to watch the peculiar accumulation of clouds forming the sky and his blazing computer screen unanimously. There had to be some logical explanation for this occurrence, the answer had to be somewhere on the internet, it just _had_ to. No way could there naturally be such a gap between thunder and lightning with the strike coming down just mere metres from his home.

Unless…..

Tucker sank back in his chair, rubbing his forehead in anguish.

Was it a ghost that was causing all these problems? It certainly seemed likely, ghosts never were smart enough to conceal their powers enough to make them look normal…not that they ever really had the need to seeing as they were dead and anything but normal…he was getting confused.

Tucker groaned, letting his eyes wander from the screen and glue themselves to the storm outside, the lightning flash so huge it lit up the entire sky with a sudden burst of flaring energy. Jerking up, he crossed over to his window and gazed at the storm curiously, wondering if Danny was seeing the same thing as him, or whether he was hiding in his bedroom like a scaredy cat. Everyone knew he freaked out when it came to thunder storms.

Well...he and Sam.

Picking up his mobile (latest model of course), Tucker called his best friend, who's number was permanently on speed dial, and waited for him to pick up.

And waited.

And waited.

After simply getting the answer machine, Tucker tried to get though again.

And again.

Until the penny dropped.

If it was a ghost causing all these freak weather problems, then who other than Danny Phantom would be up there stopping him? Mentally kicking himself for being such an idiot, Tucker dropped the phone into his pocket and was just about to leave the darkening bedroom to help his friend, when something strange moved in the corner of his eye.

Turning on his heel, Tucker's eyebrows knitted tightly together in confusion as he stared through the window to the open sky before him. Something was falling clumsily through the sky, dark in colouring and larger than any bird he'd viewed from a distance before. It was speeding through the atmosphere faster than any lightning bolt, and Tucker took a step forward cautiously.

"What _is_ that?"

Paulina gazed in herself in the bright reflection, smiling to show off her perfect set of pearly white teeth. God, was she gorgeous or what? Not a flaw on her creamy coffee skin, eyes glinting the blinding light emitted out from the reflection in the handheld mirror.

Wait a second.

Blinding light?

Wrinkling her pretty face in confusion, Paulina glanced up at the sky above and blinked. It was full of angry black clouds and growing by the minute. She stomped her foot in fury, snapping her mirror shut and glaring at the sky. The heavens had been fantastic mere minute ago, crystal clear and a brilliant shade of turquoise. She had been on her way to Star's house, in order to get under operation a plan to have sweet revenge on Dash for daring to break up with her.

The shame of being dumped was all too much to bear for Paulina. She hadn't left the house for over a week, refusing point blank to go to school and dawdling on new strategies to humiliate Dash ust the way he had humiliated her.

But worse.

And now, just when she was at the peak of getting somewhere with her revenge, this stupid storm had to come out of nowhere and ruin all her plans!

And the rain was going to make her ebony hair frizzy, and even storm clouds didn't go went well with her complexion. Turning on her heel, Paulina had to shield her eyes as an explosion of furious lightning almost blinded her, on top of the fearsome rumbling of thunder that dared to hurt her fragile eardrums.

Rubbing at her dark eyes, she stared into the distance and felt her body go numb, letting the gem encrusted mirror clatter to the floor as she opened her mouth in pure shock, not even able to move her manicured hands with the painstakingly patterned nails to cover her tiny mouth.

There was something black falling out of the sky.

Something black and white.

Something black and white and writhing in agony.

Something black and white and writing in agony and painstakingly human.

Something black and white and writing in agony and painstakingly human…

And screaming.

Dash picked up the football and growled, knocking his helmet back into place as he stood up. There was mud all over his kit, and his hot new girlfriend was going to be meeting him at the pitch any minute. He couldn't believe they'd lost the game, they _never_ lost the game!

_Ever._

All because of his loser team; The new try-outs they'd had were rubbish, he wasn't even allowed to pick half the people. He tried to force this feeling away with a shrug, he'd people able to take all his frustration out on his human punch-bag, Fen-turd, tomorrow after class.

Grinning at the malicious thought, Dah turned around to brave his teammates, when he noticed something rather odd.

And to be honest, Dash Baxter noticing anything was quite unusual.

His teammates (or what was left of them) weren't looking at him, ready for the command to head back to the changing rooms. Hell, they were actually standing with their backs to him! Dash glared at the backs of the pint sized team that had ruined his chances of a fair game tonight. How _dare_ they treat him with such lack of authority! He was their captain!

Dash took a step forward furiously, ready to force each and every one of them round to meet his gaze, when a deep rumble of thunder crashed around the pitch, so amplified it caused the ground to shake.

Pale eyes widening, he jumped a little, and was actually glad that none of the team were looking at him to see such a weak gesture. Bracing himself, he kept his feet firmly on the ground as he looked up at the sky, finally letting himself waver as he lifted his gaze to the sky, in canon with the members of his team.

Right above them, was a ferociously colossal sized cloud, so momentous it filled as much of the previously soft azure sky as they could keep their eyes on. It seemed to grow larger and faster the more they watched it, and Dash even felt himself go limp as the dirtied football slipped lifelessly from his broad fingers.

A sudden streak of crackling lightning to his right, mere centimetres from the football post, and a couple of the wimpier team mates screamed like girls and scrambled away into the safety of the changing rooms. The stronger teenagers stood firm, eyes glued to the sky like they were hypnotised. But if he was perfectly honest, Dash wasn't feeling so brave anymore.

Another strike of electricity to his left, and only he and his closest teammates were left, the biggest and burliest of the bunch.

"Is it the end of the world?" He heard one mumble, and Dash had to admit that thought had run through his mind too. But he didn't have time to dawdle on it, because abruptly, another ear-splitting roar of thunder ripped through the air like a knife, and he could see enormously bright flashes flickering inside the mountain of cloud like a light show.

Unexpectedly, a sudden flare of blinding light erupted from the sky, so bright the three teenagers left standing had to shield their eyes from the sheer illumination of it.

He thought he'd be standing like this forever, arms plastered to his face to save the painful glare from his eyes, when he heard Kwan bellow,

"There's something falling from the fricken sky!"

Against any mental will, Dash forced his trembling arms from his head and strained to look back up at the sky.

Just as Kwan had announced, something black was tumbling clumsily out of the sky, it's limbs flailing wildly as if it was trying to scrabble hold of something that simply wasn't there. Subconsciously, Dash stepped forward in line with his team mates and watched as the thing rocketed down from the storm itself, squinting to make out it's shape.

"What the hell is that?"

He muttered, lifting the grill up from his helmet to view the creature properly. It was racing towards them faster than anything he'd ever seen before, and as it grew closer Dash began to make out exactly what it was.

"Holy shit, it's human."

"But how the hell did a human get up there?"

Dash shrugged, and the trio of teenagers fell silent once more as the defenceless human catapulted itself to the ground, the spasms in it's body even more obvious now.

After a mere minute or so, they could hear it's scream, ringing agony into their ears and engraving the pitch forever into their memories.

Dash covered his ears, squeezing his eyes shut as he resisted to listen to it any longer. He couldn't stand it, the sound was going to send him mad.

He didn't hear the impact of the person hitting the earth, but he definitely felt it. The screaming had halted, and opening his eyes he could see that the sky had cleared to that earlier gorgeous azure blue, like none of this had ever happened.

Bracing himself, Dash let his watery eyes slide down to the ground, and he couldn't help but gape at the figure dented into the mud.

It was a teenage boy, for sure, in a black suit with what previously could have been white accents. The pearly boots and silver gloves had been singed off into smouldering black rips, and most of the outfit had been completely destroyed. The boy's normally shining light hair was smoking and a lot of it had been burnt to a crisp.

His face was black with burns, a mixture of emerald ectoplasm and crimson blood dribbling from wounds across his entire body. His eyes were closed and he almost looked at peace, yet his entire form was still crackling and spasming with electricity.

The three teenage teammates stared at the boy unmovingly, and Dash gulped.

"Holy crap. It's Danny Phantom."


End file.
